The Halstead fire was 3 percent contained and had charred more than 120 square miles (313 square kilometers) by August 16. Sparked by lightning in July, the fire burned through beetle-killed stands of lodgepole pine at times.

North of Halstead, a collection of wildfires known as the Mustang Complex had charred 134 square miles (346 square kilometers). Those fires were 5 percent contained. To the south, the Trinity Ridge fire burned 107 square miles (276 square miles) of Boise National Forest. Lightning ignited the Mustang Complex; human activity sparked the Trinity Ridge blaze, which was threatening the resort town of Featherville.

According to statistics maintained by the National Interagency Fire Center, a total of 548 wildfires had burned 790 square miles of land in Idaho through July 29, 2012.